Author's Note: 120 years ago this week, the World's Columbian Exhibition celebrated Chicago Week, an occasion to show off just how far the city had risen from the ashes of the Great Fire that had hit 22 years previously. Well, I have deemed it appropriate to do the same here. Over the next 5 entries we'll be taking a closer look at the Great Chicago Fire and some of its related events, as well as uncovering 2 of the unseemlier stories from the 1893 Fair. But today, let us start out the series with a clarion call to re-analyze Daniel Burnham's famed Plan of Chicago
If you happened to read the Chicago Tribune this past Sunday, what I am talking about today might ring a bell. If not, get ready to find out. in 1909, Daniel Burnham drafted his famous Plan of Chicago, a tome which has more or less guided the city's development for the past century. The plan invoked the term "Paris on the Prairie", and postulated that all residents would be within walking distance of a park. While that part was mostly borne out, there were other fantastical elements that Burnham wanted included. For example, Burnham envisioned several man-made islands dotting the lakefront. Ultimately, only one of those was built, and that was finished in 1948 as an airport. It was not until 2003 that Northerly Island realized its full potential. Another area where Burnham's plan was deficient was on societal issues.
So here we are in 2013, with various ills affecting the city, be they a high crime rate, broken families, rampant unemployment, areas of urban blight that nobody dares to enter unless they absolutely have to, and then of course,(say it with me) THE CORRUPTION. As the Tribune states, many of us see these problems as "problems we tidily compartmentalize into separate silos, not as what they are: interlocked threats to a central city" And so with that spirit, the Chicago Tribune is calling for submissions for the New Plan of Chicago. And if any of you have any impetus to contribute to this plan, you can email the Tribune your idea at PlanOfChicago@tribune.com
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